Keeping His Cool
by Ksrjah
Summary: As a fire mage, he never excelled with keeping a level head. No, most called him at hothead. So when is daughter's 18th birthday rolls around no one was surprised to find him almost blowing a gasket.


Keeping His Cool

The arm draped around him kept his butt still on the booth he sat upon. It felt heavy on his shoulder. Perfectly manicured fingernails digging into the deep maroon of his guild tattoo, the slight pain merely a warning. He swore that the woman sitting next to him could read his mind. No one, and he meant no one, could call his moves before he even know them like the blonde next to him could. The way she could predict his actions made him both proud and agitated. On one hand it meant that they knew each other so well that words were no longer necessary, and that had his heart fluttering even twenty years after they got together. On the other hand he could no longer hide things from her. If something was up, and he didn't want to worry her, or godforbid he wanted to surprise her, he wouldn't get two steps before she jumped all over him for answers.

But would he have it any other way? Ha, fat chance.

"Come on Natsu settle down. You had to know it was coming—the entire guild did!" Lucy tapped her fingers on the spot her nails had just been scratching, "Besides, you have to admit they're pretty cute together."

Natsu bristled, his nose scrunching up in a combination of disgust and anger. "How could you say something like that about our _little girl!_" He hissed, leg twitching as he watched his daughter, his _sweet_, _innocent_, little girl smile at the demonic, evil incarnated boy in front of her.

A snort. "Honey, today's her 18th birthday. She's not our little girl anymore; she's a young woman now. Has been since eleven if we talk technicalities."

"She'll always be my little girl. Even when she's forty." He huffed. Crossing his arms over his chest, he snuck a side glance at his wife. Her long blonde hair was up in a messy bun, wisps of graying strands framing her face. Laugh lines outlined her mouth, and never did Natsu ever see someone age as gracefully as his Lucy. Well, maybe beside his daughter of course.

Nashi inherited his pink hair, and at the moment she wore it in medium length, her hair done up in a similar way as Lucy's had been when the blonde had been eighteen. Nashi also had his obsidian eyes, black like coal but expressive like summer. If one looked hard enough into her eyes, then surely her emotions were written in bold lettering-just like his.

And right now he saw the words happiness, even relief, reflected in those depths, and with gritted teeth he watched as a blue haired, slanted eyed ice mage leaned his forehead against _his _precious daughter's. Natsu neither liked nor disliked the look churning behind the other teen's dark eyes. It spoke volumes of a type of devotion any father would be relieved to see in the stare of a man who had eyes set for his daughter. It reminded Natsu of how he must have looked when he knew he would marry Lucy, and that was what had him all squirmy.

Nashi had JUST turned eighteen.

Sure, Lucy had been eighteen when he realized there would be no chance of her getting away from him, _but that was different! _He and Lucy had a unique situation. They didn't grow up with functional parents so how were they supposed to know to wait? Erm, well Lucy seemed to know…but how was _he_ supposed to know? Granted they didn't actually get into the kissy stuff until their early twenties.

Unlike the joker leaning in to steal another kiss from his daughter. The pest turned nineteen not two months ago.

"Easy there sparky, you're going to set the table cloth on fire again!" His wife warned probably for the last time. The next offense would definitely result in an infamous Lucy kick. He could feel it.

Glancing down, he hadn't even noticed his steaming fists curled into the pretty fabric Mirajane had picked out for the occasion. His eyes rested on the scorch marks a couple inches to the left. They were the remnants of his reaction to the _first_ heated kiss the cocky blue haired mage planted on his daughter's innocent, _innocent_ lips.

Taking a chance, he flitted his attention to the couple in question only to curse under his breath and avert his gaze back to his hands. Inhaling, he swallowed the protest down, fearing the reaction his wife would get if he suddenly started spitting insults and fire at the man who might be trying to take his only daughter away from him.

Wait….

Shouldn't Lucy be more…torn up about all this? On further inspection, he took in the slight smile on her pink lips, the glazed over-_proud -_glint in her eyes. He wrinkled his nose.

Leaning in to her ear, he put his thoughts into one heated murmur. "And whose side are you on anyway?" The sense of betrayal he felt was conveyed loud and clear in the panic of his voice.

She giggled, elbowing him in the side. "Quit it Natsu, you're going to miss the best part!"

Furrowing his brow, he began to stew. He hated it when she brushed him off like that. Fidgeting, he clenched his teeth, returning to the romantic scene playing out before his very eyes. Before the entire _guilds'_ eyes.

God, he wanted to _puke_. More specifically all over the pest pulling away from his daughter. Yeah, that would be funny. Just walking up to him, and instead of spewing skin melting fire all over him, projectile vomiting his lunch at him instead.

He snickered, earning another elbow to the side. "Shut up, they're talking!"

And true to Lucy's words, they were.

"…Birthday Nashi." Pest whispered, wrapping his arms around her waist. _EWWWWW._

And much to his chagrin, she moved closer. Never had he cursed his dragon hearing more. "You're present was my favorite, Kieran."

The pest chuckled, nuzzling his nose into the side of her neck. Natsu gagged. "I've wanted to do that for a while now."

Nashi didn't respond.

And Natsu grinned from ear to ear because he knew that look. It first showed up when she began comprehending what words actually meant. If she didn't like what she heard, then her cheeks would puff out, looking all adorable-just like her mother actually. The only difference was when Lucy would pull that look, it _stayed_ adorable, but Nashi…well, she was a Dragneel through and through.

So obviously it would end with violence and yelling.

She pushed the pest away, the shove sending the man sprawling over a nearby chair. "Then what the hell took you so long you fatuous dolt!"

Ha.

Handled like her father, spoken like her mother.

Maybe the pest had some mountains to conquer before he even _thinks _about marrying his little girl after all. Especially if said little girl had anything to say about it. It only made sense that she would be the second biggest one, falling short only to him.

He grinned, feeling a fire in his belly flourish to life.

There will be fire, tons of it, and as always, the ice will prove inferior. Just mark his words.

XxXx

I wrote this one a while ago for the "Birthday" prompt from Nalu week, and then I promptly forgot about it. Can I just say that it made me smile? Like sometimes I can't deal with my own writing like where the hell do I get these things from? Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it!


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